A five-day mountain festival begins with the ride on the Grand Colombier in a second battle between Jonas Vingegaard and Tadej Pogacar.
The Danish leader of the 110th Tour de France and his Slovenian pursuer will be dueling in the Jura and the Alps until next Wednesday. The duo pushes the role of favorites to each other.
The situation at Vingegaard: The shy-looking Dane puts everything on the final week. “So far there have not been stages that were consistently demanding and where fatigue accumulated. Those are yet to come. The Alps suit me better,” said Vingegaard, who was surprised to have taken the yellow jersey on the sixth stage. One of those hard, long climbs that the lightweight from Jutland likes so much is without a doubt the Grand Colombier with its 17 kilometers.
Remote diagnostics about efficiency
The situation at Pogacar: “The momentum is just a little bit with me,” said Pogacar. The 24-year-old lost only a minute to Vingegaard in the Pyrenees opener, but he fought back on the mountain finishes in Cauterets-Cambasque and on the Puy de Dôme. The two-time Tour winner remains optimistic and poked fun at Team Jumbo-Visma for a remote diagnosis of his performance.
“They don’t know my stats, they don’t know how much I weigh. They may be able to make assumptions, but they can’t be sure,” said Pogacar. In any case, the lack of training suffered due to his scaphoid fracture at the end of April is not noticeable.
This is where the decision is made: The Grand Colombier is difficult, but should not be decisive. For the zenith of the duel, the farewell to the Alps on Wednesday is predestined when it comes to Courchevel. Shortly before the finish, the Col de la Loze has to be conquered, which not only stands out because of its length of 28.1 kilometers, but also because of its height of 2304 meters. The route to the top of the tour is up to 24 percent steep, and for the first time in the history of the tour the pass is crossed before the finish at the 2000 meter high Courchevel airfield.
